Inuit

The Inuit are Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, especially Greenland, Canada and parts of Alaska. Their traditions include carefully made clothing, ornaments and distinctive tattooing.

Women's chin tattoos could express beauty, maturity and changes in their lives. Lines might be added over time, while hands, arms and other body areas carried further designs. Patterns varied between communities.

Tattooists could draw pigment-coated thread beneath the skin, leaving a mark after pulling the thread out. The painful process turned a skill familiar from sewing into permanent body decoration.

Some recorded stories made the tattoos important for life after death. One warned that spirits would use an untattooed woman's skull as an oil-lamp drip tray. Such stories belonged to particular traditions, not one belief shared by every Inuit community. The marked faces show designs deeply connected with the lives of their wearers.